I have seen complete houses rocked and finished in two weeks, and in 12 hours. It all depends on the crew size, their methods, and the quality, and how much they're doing. How experienced are you at doing this? How big is the house? What kind of ceiling is it (e.g., flat, drywall finish or vaulted, textured)? I can tell you that I can finish pretty well, but at my age, I could only do a couple hours a day.

Ichabod Crane, thank you for your reply. House is 2800 sqft with 9 ft ceiling in most of the house and yes we do have vauled foyer and living room. NOt experienced at all.... I wached U-tube videos and it does not seem too difficult but I do realize that what I will do is not going to be perfect and we are excepting the risk. The finish we want is flat. I will take vacation and I am in my 30's so will be spending 8-10hrs/day.

"I wached U-tube videos and it does not seem too difficult"

Famous last words......... By the time you purchase/rent the tools and take 3 weeks off from work it would pay to hire it out!

Quite honestly, you should hire it out, no matter what the cost. Here's why: hanging is a science, knowing how and where to put up boards for the best finish and least amount of seams. Finishing is an art, one that takes quite a while to get even passable at, unless you happen to have the last name of Michalangelo. And here's the danger, even a 'passable' job, on flat surfaces, with different paints and in different light, will end up showing slight imperfections. Once you paint over a bad taping job, there's really no going back without destroying stuff. It can actually decrease the value of your home.

In all honestly, I'd put cardboard boxes in as kitchen cabinets and save up my money to eventually replace them, rather than try to finish the taping on a house without having experience.

That's my .02. Good luck on whatever you decide.

I would like to know how long and how many people it took to hang it AND
how long and how many people it tool to float/finish it.

2 hours, one person.

oh WOW... reading the posts looks like I am in for a treat and great dissapointment after paint is done. I was actually excited about taking it on but now I am not so sure.

lazy_gardens, two hours one person for what? to hang or to float and how many sq ft? I suppose that could be true for one wall and even then I would take longer for 3 passes with drying time in between.

Drywall finishers are one of the great bargains in house building along with floor sanders and roofers. They are always well worth their cost. Even at age 30 you are likely to do some permanent injury to yourself.

I parged an 8 ft tall chimney on 4 sides when I was 30 and I still have trouble with my wrist 40 years later. Repetitive hand work, especially above your head, is strictly for pros who have developed the skill and strength to be able to do it without permanent injury.

If you do it, take all of your vacation because you will need time to recuperate.

I'm sorry; not trying to rain on your parade, but you picked the one job that although YouTube might make it look easy (and I'm guessing you were looking at a pro, who can make it look easy), it's also one of the most, if not THE most important finishing components.

When I built my first home (for myself), years ago, with little experience we did the timberframe, the roofing, the wiring and plumbing....just about everything EXCEPT drywall.

lazy_gardens,
two hours one person for what? to hang or to float and how many sq ft? I
suppose that could be true for one wall and even then I would take
longer for 3 passes with drying time in between.

Well, the original post didn't say if you were doing a doghouse or a 6-bedroom house with cathedral cellings - leaving off the critical size parameter.

So I thought I would throw out an answer without the size of the job.

It's like saying "how long is the commute time" without saying start and finish points.

For anything beyond a small patch, I'd hire it out - it's HARD work. That stuff is heavy and awkward to handle.

What you save with DIY you will spend on massage therapists and pain pills.

It takes the right tools (scaffolding, props and stilts and floats)

It takes practice.

My husband is an experienced contractor and can hang, tape and do a really good flat drywall finish....... but unless it's a small area, he hires it out. As you've read above, it's not as easy as whatever video you've watched. If you really want to learn, commit to doing a small area yourself, maybe a walk-in closet and have the rest hired out. You may find you have a deft hand and can produce a satisfactory finish but you have a time factor with other elements of your build hinging on this. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish - look for other cost cutting areas. For example, you can go low cost on many kitchen and bath items to save money and they can be changed out in the future - you're not going to change out your drywall and an amateur-looking job will make everything around it look less than stellar as well. It's a tough pill to swallow but you're talking to a lot of people who know all about finding places to pull back and save money - we get it.

It took a crew of 4 guys ~3 days to hang our sheet rock, 3200 sqft house. 20ft ceiling in great room.

It took a crew of 6 2 days to tape and float for a level 4 finish which we textured with a light light orange peel. This included installing and floating the bullnose throughout.

It took a crew of 2 about 5 hours to texture.

I agree with the others, you should hire this out.

Mama Rachel (8A + windy), thank you very much for your reply. This gives me some idea for a time frame. We will hire out the hanging of a sheetrock, so that been said and knowing that I know little to nothing about floating I would say three weeks would be a good estimate for me. I can alwayse start with closets and get a feel for the job there. Thank you again.

Are there some other areas where you can cut cost with a DIY? Like some of the others said finishing the sheetrock is an art. If you mess up, you will be staring at it as long as you own your home. I would find other places to save money.

jennifw, we are already trying other areas. my husband is installing beadboard on the porch ceilings, we are doing hardie plank, we are painting outside and will paint the inside as well. We knew money will be tight going into the built so here we are I guess. our goal is to cut about 100,000 from the builder's estimate. We are not doing the loan hence we have what we have. The builder has been great and told us that we can do what we think we can tackle. I am willing to pursue this and If I am totally incapable it would be clear once we start and I guess at that point I can consider cardboard cabinets but who knows..... I might find a new passion. I am very detail oriented and it just seems that I actually might enjoy it .... we will see. You see, we are doing custom home with solar plus rain storage and things are starting to add up and cash flow out is scary at the moment. We are not building to sell it but rather building to age and die in it, so no worries there.

"our goal is to cut about 100,000 from the builder's estimate"

Yikes, good luck!!

In the part of our remodel where we had to do new sheetrock, my husband and I installed all the sheetrock together and I did all the tape/bed/prime/paint. I'd say we had maybe 70 linear foot to do, 7.5' ceilings. Installing the sheetrock wasn't too bad. Got that all done in one day. I did the rest and it probably took me a week or more to do. Drying time stretched things out. (There are probably better methods, but I went with what I knew.) I did a flat finish. No texture on my walls. I did multiple coats at the seams, sanding in between, and getting wider and wider as I went. The sanding is a nightmare. In the end, I have one inside corner I could not get right (it's behind a couch, so no one can see it, but it still bothers me, and one place above a window where I only had a few inches that I can see a transition mark where I wasn't able to sand properly. Am I proud of it - certainly. Would I ever do it again - not a chance in he!!. For an entire house, this is one area I would not consider having an amateur do.

Start your drywall taping experience by doing a ceiling inside corner and you will learn very quickly that this is not a job for a rookie. The professionals make it look easy on YouTube but I guarantee you it isn't. Taping/finishing is not really a high cost item.

I built our entire house myself, pretty much single-handed. We were on a desperately tight budget, and the only things I hired out were excavation, concrete, and... drywall. I did the drywall in the garage because I couldn't get anyone else to do it. I'm SO glad I didn't try to DIY the house!

It took a crew of 4 one day to hang the rock for 1400 sq ft. I'm not sure of the actual labor for mudding and taping because of the dry time, but it took 2 guys about 10 days for a very good job. I'm sure they could have gotten it done quicker, but I think my small house was a filler in between bigger jobs.

BTW- Installing Hardi was the single biggest chore of the entire build. I was glad when that was over. Our lot slopes, so the scaffolding had to be broken down and moved constantly.

RE: Hardie-type siding; there are little plastic hangers you can buy that latch onto the prior course and hold the next piece. You then break them off as you move up. Makes installing significantly easier and faster.

Hanging the siding wasn't too bad, but cutting, fitting, and pre-painting was slow. I used clips to install it. My siding was only primed, so I painted each piece so that if it ever shifted, you wouldn't see the primer color. I also installed a drainage plane first, a step many builders skip. I was also working alone, which makes every task slower and harder.

Ichabod Crane , mushcreek thank you for hardie suggestions. I have already purchased those gecko clips, so we should be good. Our siding is only primed too but we will be painting when it is up. Not too too worried about siding as we will have a friend helping.